Engineering the future at Arriva London

Sound investment is the key to success for any business, and for Arriva London much of that success is generated by our investment in quality Engineering training.

To maintain the highest standard of vehicles, we have engineering facilities in most of our garages across London. These facilities are managed by highly experienced and qualified engineers who provide the skills and techniques to consistently provide these services, for our fleet of over 1,700 vehicles.

Linked with this, we have a policy of continual development and training for all engineering staff, and looking forward to the future, an extensive apprenticeship and garage trainee training scheme.

Such has been the investment, that we are now a registered provider to train apprentices both inside and outside of the business. Our Engineering Academy, based in Edmonton, has successfully been added to the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP), and is now one of just two training providers in the South East of England to deliver bus and coach apprenticeships.

Heath Halle, Engineering Training Manager

As our engineering training manager Heath Halle explains:

"It is a long application process; we started the application in November 2016, and it has recently been confirmed that we have been successful at our first attempt. We applied to be a main route training provider, which means that we can train employees from other businesses and organisations as well as our own. We also no longer need an affiliated college to provide the apprenticeship. As we deliver the training, we can draw funding from our own levy pot, as well as the levy pots of the organisations whose employees we train increasing our commercial revenue."

The academy is already training employees from London United and Arriva Southern Counties, and apprentices from Abellio will be attending the Engineering Academy from September.

Here is what the apprentices have been saying:

James Barrett, one of our second year apprentices:

"I’ve learnt a lot in the past year, and I’ve been given bigger responsibilities, including working with engines. By having apprentices from other companies train with us, we can share best practice and see similarities and differences in the way we do things. I used to work for First and Tower Transit in logistics. I wanted to do an apprenticeship but Tower Transit didn’t have the space, so I contacted Arriva London. After initial testing, I started the next month. Most apprentices have to go to Bristol or Coventry to do exams, but Arriva London does everything on site. If you have a question, you can just go upstairs and ask the guys."

First year apprentice, Jamie Cohen, says:

"It’s a great course, I love it. And it’s great that we are able to meet apprentices from other organisations as well. I’m learning a lot and it’s good we are in an actual working environment, as we are able to see how it’s done in the garage. I have had lots of opportunities for hands-on experience and everyone is very supportive, they come and help you out with what you are doing."

We are extremely proud of our apprentices and what they achieve. We are also proud of our new status on the RoATP list.

With our excellent apprentices, our Engineering Academy, and our skilled team of engineers across London, we are looking forward to Engineering the future.